This is absolutely amazing

CreepinJesus · 20 Feb 2012

mickey megabyte said:

hmm, cynical mickey says you can't make anything out of just one atom - one phosphorus atom on its own can't do very much.

i would say that maybe the transistor includes one atom of phosphorus - it doesn't comprise of one atom and that's it.

You're right (I thought the same). From the article, "...from a single phosphorus atom embedded in a silicon crystal." So something like the post above...

BugMeister · 20 Feb 2012

seavixen32 said:

NecroticisM666 said:

Nanotechnology is inevitable...

It's already arrived if my pocket money is anything to go by. If it gets any smaller, I'll need a Large Hadron Collider to see it!

ha, ha..

- I feel your pain..

lehnerus2000 · 20 Feb 2012

Qdos said:

In the original article it says the transistor can output multiple values, so it's for more then a simple binary switch, in effect making it, for want of a better metaphor, a multi-dimensional variable switch. This is what's so fascinating about it besides the nano-structure...

However it's probably twenty years away...

I've only read the Yahoo report.

In that case, maybe what my friend suggested is correct.
Perhaps it is something to do with the valence states of the Phosphorus atom (+1, +3, +5).

For example, phosphorus often has a valence of three, but can also have other valences.

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valence_(chemistry)#Common_valences

GeneO · 20 Feb 2012

whs said:

A working transistor on a single atom:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/20/sc...m.html?_r=1&hp

And a big honking tunneling electron microscope to place it!
The transistor consists of the surrounding substrate as well.
Still, pretty cool.

This is absolutely amazing

In that case ...